An online real estate brokerage firm recently listed Edmond as the fourth safest city in the state of Oklahoma. The results were published in a real estate blog managed by Movato, an online company based in San Mateo, California. The firm reported that it had been researching each state to objectively analyze which areas were the safest.
In Oklahoma, Movato’s study found that top three safest cities were Yukon, Mustang and Sapulpa, with Owasso ranking below Edmond in the fifth spot. Meanwhile, the Edmond Police Department reports that the city is ranked by the FBI as the 28th safest city in the United States with a population above 75,000. The same FBI survey, called the Uniform Crime Report, also ranks Edmond as one of the Top 10 largest and safest urban areas in Oklahoma.
“Edmond has so many wonderful things to offer its residents. Between the wooded rolling hills, serene communities, highly ranked school system and all the conveniences of city-life, balanced with the feel of country living, it’s hard not to fall in love with a place like this. The fact that it ranks so highly on a national level for safety as well is just the icing on the cake” said Kelsey McGregor of McGregor Homes.
Movato admits that its criteria is not entirely scientific, unlike the Uniform Crime Report, which directly analyzes crime rates by city size. Instead, the blog reports that it gathered a list of all Oklahoma cities with populations of 10,000 or more before using the UCR to find crime data for those cities, omitting any that did not have reported data. Crime was then divided into four categories: murders, violent crimes, property crimes and total crimes, with the rates being calculated based on crimes per 100,000 residents. Each city was then given a score from 1 to 40 for each category, with one being the best and safest score, and 40 being the worst and least safe.
The rankings were specifically weighted to count murders, violent crimes, and property crimes more heavily, composing 30% of the overall score. These weighted rankings were then averaged into a “big deal score”, with the lowest number representing the safest city. Edmond had a rate of only 2,113 crimes per 100,000 people, making it one of the safest cities in the state. Interestingly, Edmond had the lowest rate out of all Oklahoma cities tested for property crimes, with only 2,012 crimes per 100,000.
While their analysis may not be as methodical as the UCR or other forms of crime analysis, Movato states that their true aim was to spark an accurate, reasoned discussion about the differences between cities. For this reason, they use authoritative sources, including data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. As such, they have suggested that their list will be a helpful resource for people looking to relocate, as it provides a way to quickly access information on the cost of living, school quality, and community safety, among other factors. Regardless, by comparing Movato’s list and the FBI’s reports, one thing is certain: Edmond, Oklahoma is objectively a safe place to live.
